R• Optional school-leaving at seventeen for all— of course--but surely
Mr. Fairlie would not make it t"Pulsory for the below-average child? The intel- ,eetual snobbery that advocates extra years of bore- dom for those without scholastic aptitude seems far, far more cruel than any cruelty of the eleven-plus. Resides, what of the increasing numbers who marry at sixteen? What of the school-age parents? Children mature mentally as well as physically earlier than they used to, but overcrowding and sc,n1"1111Y teachers are ensuring that children leave th–l°01 at fifteen today, less versed in the three Rs l'an an earlier generation were at fourteen. My as.ndrY bill is frequently incorrect. Last week a shop scant nt spelt my name Jaxon. People need better education, not longer inferior education. si,"4 TV programme on a secondary modern school ch°i■ved children of over eleven doing work that my idin a smaller class with a really good teacher—
.es at just seven!
dis no use going all out for quantity if by so „"g we sacrifice quality. The average school a` 7..eher with an '0' level GCE is not qualified to teachers further education. If the salaries and status of a ehers vvere made comparable with doctors—or at
least dentists—we should get interested, disciplined young people instead of bored rebels. How I sympathise with these under-privileged secondary moderners! Few of them have been in a class of thirty, and most of their teachers are those who weren't good enough to go to a university.
I would advocate classes of twenty-five in primary schools—for the vital years when habits of hard work and determination are fixed—with well-paid, very carefully selected staff. Secondary school staff should all be graduates or well trained in cookery, woodwork. etc. Nowadays the detergent firm execu- tive must have his degree—but the teacher. needn't!
Finally, degree standards should not be lowered. It does not follow that because people want further education they are capable of it. Those who want to call everybody top seem to me the greatest snobs of all, and what many people want is the status of so-called higher education, regardless of its quality. It is silly to quote statistics of how many learn French. etc Sitting in a congested room with an ill- qualified teacher merely produces indifference and boredom. whether the subject be French, puppetry or sex.
Obviously really good salaries and able teachers cannot be called out of a hat to satisfy an election programme. Changes have to be introduced gradually but determinedly.
If the American system of inferior degrees for almost everyone is adopted, many of us realise that intelligent children will have to be taught additionally by their parents at the weekends: the undertaker and the shirtmaker will have his degree, and the poor postman and shop assistant will be untouchable.
I wonder no one has claimed that all are athleti- cally equal. Maybe that awaits us.
BEATRICE JACKSON
38 Esmond Gardens. South Parade. W4
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